The Big Names + A Legend

This week has been hectic one step short of "chaotic." Let's see ... ummm Kevin and Val have arrived in Hawaii after I had thrown them the "gauntlet" while Thailand to come and visit us. But we took it one step further and surprised them with a surprise guests, Matt Konopka. That first night when he walked into the karaoke room they all flipped their biscuits. I still have moments of disbelief that Matt is with us all week. On the crappy side of this week 'O fun is that its my first week back in school. The week started off with writing workshops and beginning of the school year protocols and by Wednesday I had my second graders. So the day has been split with 16 second graders by day and then trying to entertain Kevin, Val. and Matt at night. Whats been helping a lot is there sense of independence, where they can just take my car and go explore beaches while I'm at work. And then at night Krystal and I take them out to dinner and night life. Last night in particular was cool because Krystal was able to get tickets to a play that was written by a local news anchor. At first I was a little apprehensive of asking our guests but it turned out that they were dying for some authentic Hawaiian Pigeon English so it all worked out. The highlight were the three Miss Hawaii winners that came on as Miss Hawaiis of the past to "inspire." It was very cool how they made fun of themselves. Not to mention that the running gag of the show was a performer we dubbed, "Times 2." He was Times 2 because he was trying to "show off" that he was a real dancer and although dancing for a local theater, he was definitely the shit! So simple numbers and/or ones done with 10 years olds, he needed to out stage them with the only way he knew how, DANCE! SO everything looked like it was just a little faster and a little more exaggerated. Nevertheless the show was very entertaining and was a very cultural lesson for our guests.

Like I said earlier, not only do I have guests in town, I also have started my second year of teaching. It is technically my first because I started kind of late last year and this is my first real school year. But from what I read in my contract, I should be tenured by this coming January. The first day of class went by faster than I had expected. The day was devoted to making sure that the kids brought all of their school supplies and going over the classroom rules. The day was pretty uneventful until 9:15 am. I had be talking all morning of rules and procedures and decided that I needed a break so I made motion to sit down in the closest seat next to me. But as a sat down I heard a very familiar sound of fabric splitting. It took me about two seconds to realize that I had just split my pants! On not just a tear but a 9 inch long gash going down the back of my pants next to my right pocket. Luckily I had worn a long shirt so I just hiked up my pants a little higher and did my best not to move around too much. Another lucky break was that 9:50 was first recess where I could get some new pants. The "accident" was so cliche of a first day teaching kind of thing. I mean you have the coming to school naked nightmare or the one where no one can understand you or hear you, and then you have the one with the embarrassing tear of the shorts to reveal your tightie whities or a very eccentric pair of boxers. I was fortunate to be wearing normal colored boxers. What a day.

The second day of teaching (today) wasn't too bad either. Everything ran pretty smoothly and I didn't really have any problems. The only funny thing that happened to day was for some reason I kept complimenting my students with the word "wunderbar" sp??? German for wonderful. Anyway I was playing a math game with them and going around the class when my Japanese National boy just yells out "Wunderbar" when one of his neighbors got a correct answer. It just seemed so out of place for him to yell it out that everyone started laughing. It was very cute in a sense.

I can't wait until I find my rhythm for this year so I can enjoy it to the max! I have a feeling that my class is going to rock. Here's to ANOTHER GREAT YEAR!!

Kurisu Ou-to!